The Fruits of the Spirit
Unbelievers have little
concern for what the Christian believes-thy are
far more interested in the fruitage of his faith.
Does your faith make you easy to get along with?
Generously dispositioned? Selflessly concerned
for others? Does your love for Jesus keep you
good-natured? Sweet-tempered? Cheerful? Said the
Master; By this shall all men know that ye
are my disciples, if ye love one to
another. John 13:35.
At another time Christ
declared of those who professed to be religious,
By their fruits ye shall know them
Matthew 7:20. Not by certain signs or
manifestations are Christs followers to be
known, but by their fruits. Christ warned His
followers to beware of false prophets, false
tongues, false healings, and false signs, because
Satan can easily counterfeit. God earnestly warns
us to beware of Satans masquerades:
The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the
latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of
devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their
conscience seared with a hot iron. 1
Timothy 4:1,2.
God has indeed given
various gifts or manifestations of the Spirit,
but He has made it clear that these are to be
tested; they are not to be themselves the test.
Christ made the fruits of the Spirit the
all-important test. The fruit we bear tells the
world whether we have enthroned the carnal nature
in our hearts or the Spirit of Christ, whether we
have allowed ourselves to be controlled by an
unholy spirit or by the Holy Spirit.
To say that one is
controlled by the Holy Spirit is not to say that
there is no more conflict with sin. Galatians
5:17 describes the conflict that will exist as
long as we are mortal: The flesh lusteth
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh: and these are contrary the one to the
other. The world may not be able to see the
struggle going on in the heart, but the world can
see who is winning the battle by the way we
behave. The Christian may fall occasionally, but
he regrets his un-Christ like acts and endeavors
to overcome.
The fruit of the Spirit,
according to Galatians 5:22,23 is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance. The Holy
Spirit blesses us with all these attributes. Love
heads the list. At creation God endowed man with
His own love; but when Adam sinned, his
capacities to love became limited-he could not
love God with all his heart or his neighbor as
himself. Those who are born of the Spirit
experience that original love, a love beyond
anything that the unconverted soul could
know-Gods kind of love.
We naturally love those
who love us, but Jesus told His disciples to love
those who did not love them. (Matthew 5:44-48.)
True love, He said, would go even so far as to
die for a friend. (John 15:13.) Christ had this
kind of love and more, for while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans
5:8.)
The followers of Jesus
must love with a more than natural love, for
Jesus commanded them to love as I have
loved you. (John 13:34.)
How can a man ever hope
to have a love that human beings do not naturally
possess? The Bible provides an answer: The
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the
Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Romans
5:5. God manifests His love to us by the Holy
Spirit, which testifies of Christ; and as we
behold His love, we are changed. The Holy Spirit
gives us the very same kind of love that dwells
in the heart of God. However, it is ours only as
we use it.
We cannot grasp the full
meaning of the love of God or agape love. The
apostle Paul after exhausting the heights and
depths, the lengths and breadths, of language,
exclaimed that the love of Christ passeth
knowledge. (Ephesians 3:16-19.) We do not
have to understand Gods love to accept it
and appreciate it. The heart can accept what the
mind cannot comprehend.
Every Christian can know
the love of God, and in his daily life reveal
that love. His life may become a sermon for all
to see. All of the fruits of the Spirit are to be
beautifully blended in the lives of Christians.
Their lives will not attract attention to
themselves, but will ever point to Jesus.
There
is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out
fear. 1 John 4:18. Those who are responsive
to the love of the Spirit will love in the
Spirit. (Colossians 1:8.) The love of
the Spirit contagiously inspires courage.
Many a person has been lifted above his doubts
and fears by the spirit
of love (2
Timothy 1:7) revealed in the unselfish acts of
anothers life.
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